Reinforcement News Alters Troops' Hopes

Implications Overshadow Ceremony

November 11, 1990|By The Los Angeles Times

SAUDI ARABIA — A grim new mood swept across this kingdom's eastern desert Saturday as echoes of resurgent war talk reached U.S. encampments and soldiers came to grips with the realization that their fates are now tied firmly to the outcome of the Persian Gulf crisis.

With massive American reinforcements on the way and planned troop rotations postponed indefinitely, top commanders cast ambiguity aside and, on the 215th birthday of the Marine Corps, for the first time spoke bluntly about a possible U.S.-led attack against Iraq.

The sobering words about new offensive options and the warnings of an uncertain future had the sound of a call to arms in the starkly martial celebrations held at dusty desert compounds where thousands of Marines are encamped.

"More than ever before," said Maj. Gen. Robert M. Johnston, chief of staff for the U.S. Central Command, as assembled troops stood at rapt attention, "the prospect of offensive combat is going to be the greatest challenge that Marines have seen in many decades."

"Strong signals are being sent," said Brig. Gen. Thomas B. Draude, assistant commander of Marine ground forces in Saudi Arabia, adding, in obvious understatement: "Things are a little different than they were a week or so ago."

The two commanders addressed the troops as word began to circulate that President Bush had authorized the deployment of more than 200,000 additional U.S. military personnel over the next two months to join the 230,000 already assigned to the Persian Gulf area.

Among the Marines here, scattered disclosures of the new developments generated less outright complaining than stoic reflection about the implications of being deployed for the duration when the prospect of war seems to be increasing.

Shown a copy of a newspaper story about the canceled rotations, 19-year-old Lance Corp. Brad Olmstead of Spokane, Wash., sat purse-lipped for a moment in the back of a bouncing five-ton truck.

Then he slung his arm around the shoulder of 23-year-old Lance Corp. Richard Dobbs, a fellow sentry from the headquarters of the 1st Marine Division, based in Camp Pendleton, Calif. "Buddy," Olmstead said, "we're here to stay."

Members of a congressional delegation who met with troops in Saudi Arabia Saturday told reporters afterward that an Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait would no longer be considered sufficient to end the Persian Gulf standoff.

Reps. John Murtha, D-Pa., and Stephen Solarz, D-N.Y., said that many members of Congress are now convinced that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's arsenal of chemical weapons and potential capability to produce nuclear arms must be eliminated as part of any resolution.

"If he moves out of Kuwait unilaterally, we are also going to insist, the Congress will insist, that he not have this ability and that we be able to verify it," said Murtha, chairman of the House Defense Committee.

As part of the massive buildup, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney has said that previous plans to begin rotating troops out of the Persian Gulf would be put off indefinitely so the U.S. force can be increased to peak levels.

In helicopter shuttles to half a dozen Marine units Saturday, it was evident that few troops had more than sketchy information about either the magnitude of the planned reinforcements or the cancellation of troop rotations.

Acknowledging that such details were bound to have an even further "sobering effect," Brig. Gen. Mike Myatt, commander of Marine ground forces, said that he planned to brief field commanders Sunday on the news that their troops will be kept in place indefinitely.

"It'll be tough on the Marines," said Col. John. H. Admire, the commanding officer of the Third Marine Regiment, who said that his men had been counting on rotation after six to eight months of service.

"And now, to know that it may not be ..." he said, his voice tailing off. "We'll adjust to it."